Ecological Happenings
Visitors
A 1% for the planet donor was given a tour of the island today by Chris Blondeau. There were a total of 5 visitors.
No marine vessels today
Pigeon Guillemot in winter plumage
It was an absolutely stunning day at Race Rocks, with light winds (<5kts) from the southeast and a clear sky until dusk (it has now clouded over). The barometer fell further today, to ~1010hPA. The forecast is for increasing westerly winds (10 to 20 knots near midnight) then light by Saturday morning, with a chance of rain.
It was a busy day in the reserve, with nine whale watching boats stopping by. One of the operators was even flying a drone around the island. No doubt, collecting promotional footage. Seven pleasure craft passed through going slowly, mostly. It is important to remember the speed limit in the reserve is <7kts.
We continued our training today. Learning more about the systems that keep this place running as sustainably as practicable. Don dropped Anne and Alex off at Pearson College in the afternoon, while Nina showed a CBC film crew the lighthouse. Students came out to the island at lunch for a field trip, and another group went diving off the jetty later in the day.
The sky was partially overcast early but cleared a bit in late morning. Then it clouded over and finally started to rain as it socked in just before dark. The wind started out east-northeast then turned to west late morning before backing all the way around to southwest. The barometric pressure is rising as I write this log and the forecast calls for clearing in the morning and sunshine. Winds will turn to westerly 10 – 15 knots Friday afternoon.
Commercial whale watching vessels made fifteen observed visits to the Ecological Reserve today. One vessel regularly comes in fast and not slowing until well inside the go slow boundary and then consistently speeds up early. The same vessel can be seen hop-scotching ahead of endangered southern resident killer whales as the pass by and in the reserve, sitting almost on top of the sea otter. It is a large, noisy vessel that reliably pushes the limits of respectful whale watching and will end up by hitting an animal or worse. Most of the operators realize that this sort of behaviour is not sustainable.
Biggs Killer Whales were already being followed by the whale-watching fleet before they came into the Ecological Reserve from the east and milled in and around South Seal Rocks and the breaking rock just off the energy building. There were many sea lions in the water, some craning their necks to see better and others just trying to maintain as much time as possible in the air, by repeatedly leaping airborne. I am not sure if the killer whales made a kill or not but sense that they did. There was some fancy criss-cross swimming by the first three whales, then a little one accompanied by a bigger one arrived on scene. This was followed by a few minutes with all the whales underwater and gull action above, which made me think food leftovers. After that they left, heading south and then southeast, dogged by the fleet. Two vessels came into the reserve while the whales were already inside. It is possible that they were not aware on entering but they did not leave once they were aware of the whales’ presence.
Ecologically, the transition from summer into fall continues. Salmon migration is still strong and birds, pinnipeds and cetaceans abundant. The size of the multi-species feeding flocks on the water, is increasing daily with some aggregations (outside the protected area) appearing to have thousands of gulls.
Thursday is animal census day so here are the numbers for charismatic mega-fauna.
Steller Sea Lion 303
California Sea Lion 578
Harbour Seal 187
Northern Elephant Seal 11
Sea Otter 1
Southern Resident Killer Whale (2 in ER during count week, additional 18 in Race Passage during count week)
Biggs Killer Whale (Transients) 6 today (3 more during count week)
Humpback Whale (3 during count week)
Canada Goose 0 full time (flock of ~25 chased off almost daily)
Harlequin Duck 0
Double-crested Cormorant 25
Brandt’s Cormorants 22
Pelagic Cormorant 6
Unidentified cormorants 17
Black Oystercatcher 5
Black Turnstone 11
Kildeer 3
Glaucous-winged Gull total 453 (325 – adults; 128 – juveniles)
California Gull 847
Thayer’s Gull 180
Mew Gull 24
Herring Gull 0
Ring-billed Gull 2
Western Gull 2
Heerman’s Gull 36
Adult Gull spp (Unidentified) 242
Juvenile Gull spp (Unidentified) 223
Savannah Sparrow 9
Fox Sparrow 1
Unidentified Sparrow 1
Junco 3
Horned Lark (2 in count week)
Pacific Wren 1
Routine chores continue. There were six visitors today. Two very self contained Environment Canada technical service officers came out to do annual maintenance on their weather station up on the tower. If you were looking on camera # 1 you may have had a close-up view of them at work, calibrating, replacing and maintaining their instruments in full climbing gear. Thanks go out to them as well for the help they gave us before leaving the island. Two national geographic photographers came out to get a sense of the diversity of wildlife and of course take photos. Two young people who may potentially become eco-guardians also visited. Thanks go out to Don for helping move fuel, a heavy job. Well done. Courtney drove Second Nature to get them all out here and back safely and she was accompanied by Jasper, volunteer extraordinaire.
It was a clear day from glorious sunrise to subdued sunset. The wind was 5 to 15 knots in the west – southwest quadrant and solar radiation was high, though not quite as high as yesterday; 400 Langleys today and just over that on Monday. As I write the Log blog, clouds are creeping in and blanketing the mountains on the American side and the barometer is falling again. Forecasts call for a switch to southeast winds, which usually brings wet weather. Wednesday is supposed to be increasingly cloudy and rain is supposed to follow.
Only eight commercial whale watching vessels were noted in the Ecological Reserve boundaries today and five of those were in the afternoon associated with Biggs (Transient) Killer Whales on the other side of Race Passage. The Killer Whales were on the Vancouver Island side of the passage and spent several hours in and around Bentick Island and Emdyck Passage and William Head. Several pleasure craft passed through the reserve today, all without speeding or fishing in reserve. There was one overflight during the first class field trip: a small fixed-wing aircraft that passed over west to east and then returned passing over a second time. Although one red flag was up all day at the military site there were no obvious explosions.
Pearson College students spent part of the day here today. Two of Laura Vehegge’s classes of marine science students came for their first field trip of the year to Great Race Island. I was hoping they would have a chance to see the Sea Otter, at least one pod of Killer Whales and maybe a couple of Humpback Whales, but no. After all they have just started a species list that they will be adding to for the next two years, so they will have other opportunities.
Today the students were also working on journal entries about their marine animal observations. They were lucky enough to see California and Stellers Sea Lions, Northern Elephant and Harbour Seals and lots of Glaucous-winged Gulls. There were also Mew Gulls, California Gulls and if they were sharp-eyed, Heerman’s Gulls. Those were the ubiquitous species, but for me, the more interesting and unusual species were two new, avian visitors that showed up today; a male and female Horned Lark. I send a shout out to Victoria Natural History Society on Twitter for helping with the identification. A flock of 24 Canada Geese landed and were on the island for a very short visit.
Laura’s classes witnessed the down-side of plastic in the ocean today. Is there an up-side? They had the ‘opportunity’ to observe three neck-laced sea lions. Those two California Sea Lions and one Steller Sea Lion with plastic straps around their necks will likely not survive long unless they get the specialized attention of Vancouver Aquarium veterinarian, Dr. Martin Haulena. Dr. Haulena has worked extensively with sea lions and is one of the few people able to do this sort of animal welfare work. This is another good reminder for all of us to avoid plastic if possible, recycle it and just in case it “gets away” cut all possible entanglers before disposing of it. There are a lot of really good efforts towards reducing plastic in our seas and there is a real need.
The Killer Whales mentioned above showed up late in the afternoon and missed both classes.
It was good to see Courtney with Year 20 volunteer Jasper, as a deck-hand on Second Nature. He had quickly graduated to skipper in training by the third run to Race Rocks.
The overcast morning sky cleared by noon, clouds pushed out by light northeast winds. In the afternoon, the wind turned to west and then in the evening to southwest. The barometer rose to 1013 hPA today. The forecast continues to call for rain along with variable winds at 5 – 15 knots.
There were only six whale watching visits observed in the Ecological Reserve today and no sports fishers. The large military explosions punctuating yesterday’s alternate sea lion swims and haul-outs continued today.
Today was census day at Race Rocks.
Steller Sea Lion 313
California Sea Lion 649
Harbour Seal 155
Northern Elephant Seal 14 (Two on Great Race -#5850 + female; 12 on Middle Rock)
Sea Otter 2
Southern Resident Killer Whale 16 (during count week)
Humpback Whale 3 (during count week)
Canada Goose 4 full time (2 adults 2 goslings) (flock of 25 chased off twice)
Harlequin Duck 1
Double-crested Cormorant 83
Pelagic Cormorant 9
Cormorants spp 18
Black Oystercatcher 6
Black Turnstone 12
Kildeer 2
Mew Gull 134
California Gull 11
Herring Gull
Glaucous-winged Gull total ( 277- adults; 74 – juveniles)
Ring-billed Gull 1
Gull spp 62
Song Sparrow 1
Savannah Sparrow 22
Fox Sparrow 1
Junco 3
Barn Swallows 2
American Pipet 1
A crew from operations at Pearson College, visited today and were very helpful in getting freshwater flowing again in the Eco-guardian’s House, amongst other things. Courtney was at the helm of Second Nature, Jeff brought all the plumbing gear and know-how to replace the pump and Jasper (PC Alumnus year 20) a curious, environmental engineer figured out a few of diesel pumping mysteries. A big shout out to all three. Thanks for the support.
The sun shone through a bit more today even as clouds and much needed rain continued. West winds blew at about 10 knots most of the day as the clouds were pushed steadily inland. The barometer is now back up to where it was last Friday before the big nose-dive into Saturday’s storm. The forecast looks a little brighter for Friday and Saturday before a return to wet and cool.
Whale watching activity in the Ecological Reserve was very subdued today as the black and whites moved north and east yesterday. Only four visits by commercial whale watching boats were observed in the Ecological Reserve. One sports fishing vessel and a couple of rental boats also came through obviously oblivious to the speed reduction zone within the reserve boundaries .
Thursday is census day and here are the results of this week’s animal census.
Steller Sea Lion 497
California Sea Lion 522
Harbour Seal 81
Northern Elephant Seal 2
Sea Otter 1
River Otter 1 seen (probably more)
Southern Resident Killer Whale 7 (during count week)
Biggs (Transient) Killer Whale 5 (during count week)
Humpback Whale 1 just outside of reserve but may have transited border
Canada Goose 4 full time (2 adults 2 goslings) (24 visited once during count week)
Harlequin Duck 1
Double-crested Cormorant 11
Pelagic Cormorant 12
Brandt’s Cormorant 1
Black Oystercatcher 29
Black Turnstone 95
Ruddy Turnstone 1
Western Sandpiper 3
Kildeer 1
Dunlin 1
Glaucous-winged Gull 276 (193 – adults; 83 juveniles)
California Gull 61
Western Gull 1
Heerman’s Gull 26
Peregrine Falcon 1
Common Raven 2
Savannah Sparrow 3
It is of note that there have been no Pigeon Guillemots seen since I arrived. Last year there were chicks, still being fed by their parents, on the nests in the rubble area just west of the jetty at this time of year and later. I am hoping that the river otters have not been visiting these ground-breeding birds and will look for evidence of what has been going on there.
Maintenance work was routine and the only other visitors to the reserve were the Pearson College students having their orientation by vessel. Courtney kindly delivered paper, which was appreciated as there was none.
Pearson College students doing orientation week activity at Race Rocks Ecological Reserve.
It was a fairly quiet, dark and damp day at Race Rocks. The wind had still not done much by 18:00 but it rose out of the west later on blowing 20 – 25 knots. Although the ceiling was generally much higher than yesterday, solar radiation levels remained low, compared to the rest of the week, including stormy Saturday. The barometer dropped a little today, but remained above 1005 hPa and the forecast is for strong afternoon west winds to also bring much needed precipitation until Friday.
The weather pages on this racerocks.ca web site have lots of good data. If you like graphs or if you would like to learn to like graphs, check out the weekly solar radiation data graph to see how dark it has been lately.
It was another busy day for commercial whale watching activity in the Ecological Reserve with 17 visits observed. The main concerns were with a couple of vessel operators who are in a hurry and speed up before exiting the reserve. I really enjoy watching the better operators. They take their time; use the current to enhance their visit and make sure that their clients have a good experience, while assuring a sustainable future for their industry in the Ecological Reserve.
Four groups of Pearson College students visited the Ecological Reserve today as part of their orientation week activities. They were in the two vessels Haiku and Second Nature.
More sea lions appear to be arriving daily and I look forward to doing the census later this week. I have also documented a number of branded and tagged sea lions and data that will be shared with NOAA biologists. Today there were two Northern Elephant Seals on the island, the young male from the ramp yesterday moved up behind the boathouse and a similarly sized individual arrived on the ramp today with a crowd of California Sea Lions. Only one Elephant Seal was visible on Middle Rock, surrounded by Stellers Sea Lions.
Other less welcome arrivals were ~24 Canada Geese. I guess now that there are a few green shoots again; they are here to eat them. There is still a family of five, whose goslings were late to hatch, that looks like it hasn’t left yet.
I was busy with minor chores today, including the usual plus repairing the jetty fence twice, cleaning the camera, running the generator to bring the batteries back up and assessing generator use, de-salinator hours and various fuel quantities on hand for month end. I did make time to take a few photos and have included them in a gallery for your viewing pleasure.
Spot the Northern Elephant Seal amongst the Northern Sea Lions?
Weather: 21 knots early rising 25 knots in the afternoon – Air temperature: 12 degrees Celsius -Water 12 degrees too. Barometric pressure: 1014 (HPA).
Birds: I saw a blue heron attacked by gulls so he left for the south Island and a fly of 20 cormorants. A big bloody chicken was under the diesel tank. This made a total of 9 dead found chickens.
Noemi and Catherine arrived for their 15 days of summer services. They came with Courtney and Chris. We went around and help them to settle in their new house. Courtney checked with Guy the desalinator and the testing they did showed that the membrane needed to be changed. After that they looked at the connections for the electrical fence and decided the spots needed protection from the sea lion’s invasion, especially around the 2 houses and the crane. The old ladder went ashore and will be replaced by a new stainless steel one.
Light Westerly wind rising to 15 knots
Early that day Guy help taking Amatuana from the college to Sooke for some check up and I stayed on the island doing the island business and enjoying the place at the same time.
By the way he filled up the gas tanks for the boat at Pedder bay.
We had a few whale watchers around but no visitors.
When he came back at 3PM it was still clear but an hour later we were in a thick fog wall. We could hardly see something beyond 50 meters. The foghorn has been working from 4Pm to 6Pm and after that all a sudden we were in another clear day, ready to enjoy a beautiful sunset. In the evening the wind raised 30 knots.
On Friday we had our first rainy day. When we came back from town the rocks were not so white. Everything around looked cleaner but the smell at around 50m from shore was the same unique strong mixture of crab shrimp and fish. On Saturday a nice and cool day many boats around 50 were fishing in the strait along the Canadian coast.
Those days the number of elephant seals on Race Rocks is not stable. The 2 big ones have been away since the 23rd and the 2 young females come and go. Maybe they will be all gone pretty soon. lately the 4 of them didn’t go far on the island and used to rest closed to the boat shed going often back and forth to the water.
No visitors.